Mortgage lenders will soon have access to new details about a prospective borrower's past -- such as past rental applications, inquiries to pay-day lenders, and missed child support payments -- that will be factored in to a new credit score.
Real estate and mortgage data aggregator CoreLogic says it's signed...
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The housing inventory is flush with choices. Interest rates are at record lows. And you're ready to buy a house. There is likely just one thing standing between you and home ownership: Getting a lender to approve your mortgage. Here are eight ways not to sabotage your plans.
1. Don't quit your job or decide to...
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It's a Catch-22 if ever there was one. The very process of shopping around for a low interest rate on a mortgage can adversely impact your credit score and cost you your eligibility for the cheaper loan you're seeking.
Each time a lender does what is known as a "hard pull" on your credit report, their action...
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These days maintaining a stable credit score is more important than ever. So you try to do everything right. You pay off credit card debt, avoid new loans, close unused credit card accounts, and make sure that you pay all your bills on time. Then you check your credit score, only to find that it fluctuates by...
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Successfully obtaining a mortgage requires meeting certain numbers. There's the amount of the down payment that you must have in your bank account. The amount of annual earnings you must show to prove you can manage the mortgage. And then there is your credit score.
Right now, that credit score needs to be in...
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Glamis Haro is the last person you'd expect to be hounded by a collection agency.
As the lending manager at Union Settlement, a federal credit union in Harlem, N.Y., she'd spent years advising clients on how to avoid the exact situation she suddenly found herself in. But it wasn't negligence that landed Haro in...
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With homes at near-bottom prices and interest rates at historic lows, a lot of consumers are jockeying to get into the homeowners market or to refinance their standing loan. But there's one catch: Getting approved for the best interest rates relies on your credit score.
Typically, a credit score of 720 or...
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Key Video Takeaways
David and Lia are like many of the 86.3 percent of college graduates who had to borrow money to pay for a four-year undergraduate education. Now they worry about how that might affect their chances for buying a home.
The average cumulative debt of America's loan-taking undergraduates...
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Jennifer Labin was coming up on the seventh year of her adjustable rate mortgage when she decided it was time to try to lower her interest rate. Jennifer and her husband had lived in their Maryland townhouse for the better part of a decade. But with a bigger family on the way and the interest rate on their ARM...
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Real estate and mortgage fraud cases may be the latest fallout from the recent real estate bubble. Two recent California court cases demonstrate the lengths that white-collar criminals will go to in order to deceive buyers, banks and investors.
In Orange County, a former real estate broker stole clients'...
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Want to be considered for a loan modification? Stop making your mortgage payments. That's the advice that Washington Mutual gave some homeowners who called looking for help with their mortgage payments. Their reward for complying with that advice? Foreclosure.
Some homeowners are now suing JPMorgan Chase,...
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With vacancies at an all-time high, even the most chilled out landlord is likely to do a more in-depth background check on you. Why risk placing their apartment in your hands? No landlord wants the hassle of finding another renter, even today, during a renter's market.
Beyond a basic Google search or peek into...
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